


But the Russians...

by wyntreaurora



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Olympics!verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-20
Updated: 2010-02-20
Packaged: 2017-11-11 00:14:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/472313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wyntreaurora/pseuds/wyntreaurora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spock and Uhura are an ice dancing pair, Jim is a figure skater, Bones is the team doctor, and hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	But the Russians...

**Author's Note:**

> So this is an AU that if I ever find some more time I will expand b/c OMG I had more ideas than I could fit into 2k words. What you need to know for this piece: everyone's human, the time is now, and Spock and Uhura are a pairs figure skating team. If it helps to more fully imagine things, Jim is a skater too, still his playboy self, and Scotty is the miracle worker wardrobe guy. I've even got a playlist going of music that they all skate to. Yep, in my head, it's epic ;D
> 
> This was written for prompt 4 over at Ship Wars 2010 at st_respect on LJ which was "In the doghouse".

Nyota was flabbergasted. This garment bag was not the one with her costumes for the routines they were going to skate, not to mention it didn’t even contain a correct pair of outfits for any of their last three competitions. So where were her costumes for this week and who had grouped these two together in this one? 

Panicked, she threw on a jacket and rushed to the apartment Spock was sharing with their other teammate, Jim. Maybe her outfits never made it out of the bag they came back from the cleaners in and were packed with his matches to them. 

“Spock?” she called as she entered the tiny space and shut the door behind her. 

“Yes, Ashayam?” he said softly, suddenly appearing out of the bedroom in an outfit that matched one of the ones in her bag. She stared at him, speechless for a few moments, slightly distracted by how good he looked, then remembered her initial conundrum. 

“I don’t have my costumes for our routines. I thought maybe they were still with yours from when they were cleaned? And why are you wearing that outfit?” 

“I am double checking to make sure it still fits correctly before tomorrow night.” 

“Why would you need that outfit for tomorrow night? We’re doing...” she trailed off, losing her train of thought as she noticed Spock undoing the ties at his wrists and neck before slowly removing the deep red poet shirt. She felt her heart beat a little faster as his hands moved towards his belt buckle before he turned and entered his room, kicking the door partially closed behind him. With him no longer in view she recovered. "We're not doing _Mambo Swing_ , we're doing _Warm Air_.” 

“I have been studying the programs of the other teams and was able to determine that we could raise our chances for the gold medal if we changed our routines. The Russians have-” 

“THE RUSSIANS?! What the – Spock you changed our routines? For a better shot at the medal? Without asking me?!” 

“Nyota, before you say anything else, I have a perfectly logical explanation for changing our routines at the last minute. I apologize for not having consulted with you first, but time was running out and after I made the changes I got distracted with the rest of our travel preparations and it honestly slipped my mind.” 

Nyota was no longer confused - she was irate. 

“I don’t care if the President himself asked you to change the routines, the first call you made _before_ changing things should have been to _me_ , your _partner_. Spock, this isn’t like when you sprained your ankle and we had to change the jump sequence before Nationals, this is the damn OLYMPICS!” 

She was fuming now, pacing the floor in front of the couch and muttering to herself. She didn’t even notice him come back into the room. 

“Nyota, I _am_ sorry, but I believe after you hear my reasoning you will understand and be less adverse to the idea. We can talk about it over dinner.”  

“We will NOT talk about it over dinner. You can do whatever you want, but if you want to live long enough to skate tomorrow night, and you want me to be able to skate with you, you will not speak to or come anywhere near me until I say so, understand?” 

Spock could only swallow as he nodded, the fire flashing in her eyes enough to earn his silence. 

“Good. Now, I’m going to get something to eat before I figure out who I have to beg to get some time on the ice tonight and tomorrow morning. You better hope my muscle memory is as good as you’re counting on!” 

She turned sharply and barreled through the front door, slamming it behind her. Well, Spock thought to himself, that did not go as well as hoped, but it definitely could have been worse. He sighed as he realized this probably meant their Valentine’s Day plans for tomorrow night after their skate were probably canceled. 

***

 

Nyota knew from the outfits which two routines Spock had chosen, but as mad as she was she also knew that he wouldn’t have changed the actual routines without letting her know. Given that, she spent the rest of her evening on the ice, going over the elements of the first routine repeatedly until she felt sure her muscle memory had kicked in, and then she ran through the whole thing seven times before Leonard, the team doctor, made her stop. He went to see Spock with the intention of wringing his neck for the undue stress he was putting them all under, and finally ended up at the arena, watching protectively from the stands as she pushed herself nearly to her limit. 

“Darlin’ you have to call it quits for the night,” he spoke in the silence after the music ended again. “And if I have to, I’ll sedate you so you’re not back here tomorrow morning.” 

He stood from where he had been perched the last twenty minutes as she made her way off the ice, pulling her into a hug when she reached him. 

“Ny, I know you’re frustrated, hell, so am I. A decision like this affects all of us with the tension it creates, but hon, you have to get some rest. I’ve watched you run that routine flawlessly four times now, how many did you skate it before that?” 

Unable lie to the man who had become her second father, she slumped further into his embrace and murmured the answer wearily. “Three.” 

“Call it a night. Take advantage of the fact that you’ve got your own room and relax. I don’t want you up before nine or back here until normal warm-up time, ok?” 

“Yes Len. Thanks,” she said, hugging him, and then sat down to change out of her skates. He walked her back to her tiny apartment and when he was certain she was settled he headed toward Spock and Jim’s to check on them before turning in himself for the night. 

***

 

Spock had tried to talk to Nyota at breakfast, forgetting her condition from the night before, but she chugged the last of her juice and quickly left the cafeteria. He sighed and sat down in her vacant seat, missing both his partner and girlfriend. 

It wasn’t until twenty minutes before they were scheduled to be at the arena for warm-ups and practice that his phone buzzed with a text from Nyota. _Meet me in 5 outside the locker room._ He grabbed his jacket and sprinted to the transportation center, just barely catching the one that would put him at the arena with a minute to spare. She had to have known he wouldn’t be anywhere near the arena yet, and he supposed this was punishment, deserved punishment at that. He _should_ have discussed it with her and he would spend as much time as she would let him trying to make it up to her. 

The look on her face when he showed up, breathless from the mad dash, indicated she wasn’t ready to hear that. He wisely kept his mouth shut and let her speak first. 

“Look, as your girlfriend, this sucks, but I don’t have time to be her right now, so this is strictly me as your partner. I don’t know why you changed our routines, and right now I don’t give a damn. As your partner I trust that you had a really good reason, which you _will_ give me after this is all over with and we’ve won the gold, because if we don’t win after this shenanigan, you’ll be lucky if you can ever skate again, got it?” 

He nodded sensing she wasn’t done. 

“Don’t expect me to be ok tonight, or even tomorrow. I won’t be ok until we have time to discuss this fully, so just bear with me. I went over the short routine last night and I feel good. Let’s get two runs in before everyone else gets here and then tomorrow morning we can go over the long program. I feel better about it so I’m not as worried.” 

He waited, making sure she was done before he gently drew her into an embrace. 

“Nyota, I am sorry. I understand your frustration with me, and I will do whatever I can to make it up to you when you are ready, but for now, Ashayam, I love you and I could not let us skate tonight without saying it.” 

“I love you too Spock,” she said quietly before untangling from his arms and heading for the ice to warm up as he changed into his skates. 

***

 

She didn’t know all the details yet, but the fact that they had scored a personal best _and_ were in first place after the short program helped her over some of her frustration at Spock. That and she had thrown as much of her anger and frustration as she could into that performance – Bones and Jim both said it was the hottest they’d ever seen that routine. 

She spent the majority of the next day with Spock on the condition that they discuss nothing related to their Olympic experience at all. She knew the only way to score the points they'd need in the long program was to sell a believable relationship between the two of them, and to do that she'd have to shut out everything but her feelings for him off the ice. She trusted her body to do its job that night as long as she could keep her emotions in check. 

After having been ranked first after the night before they were now scheduled to skate last in the long program, so with the extra time they walked through their routine one last time backstage. Just before they headed for the ice Spock kissed her gently and whispered "I love you." The time they spent together that day had shown him how much he truly loved her apart from their skating relationship, and he knew that it no longer mattered to him if they won the gold or ever skated again, he only wanted Nyota to be happy. 

They took their place on the ice, the familiar strains of music began, and Nyota and Spock were lost to each other, their caresses and touches softer and more passionate than normal. Their performance was flawless, and before they knew it, the music was over and they found themselves in their ending position, wrapped around one another as tightly as they could get, foreheads touching, eyes closed. The audience erupted in applause around them and they stayed like that for a few moments, catching their breath. When they finally opened their eyes Spock kissed her softly, before they took their bows and skated off the ice to await their scores. 

Neither was nervous, but the scores did seem to be taking longer to tally than they expected, and in the lull of the noise Spock suddenly knew what he wanted. 

He stood from his chair, dropped to one knee and began to speak just as the announcer began. 

“Nyota, I love you, and I do not have –” 

The last half of his statement was cut off by the roar of the crowd, which even drowned out the announcer, as the scores were posted for the crowd to see. They had won the gold, which turned all of the cameras on them. 

“What?” she said loudly. 

The crowd’s noise suddenly died down as they were seeing the image of Spock on one knee in front of Nyota. Realizing the cameras were on, and more than half-wishing he could take it back and do this in private later, Spock continued anyway, needing her answer more than anything at this point. 

“Marry me.” 

Nyota looked at him, stunned, brain fighting with her heart over the circumstances, but her heart won out with a concession from her brain. She nodded yes and laughed. 

“But this doesn’t mean you’re out of the doghouse yet.” 

They both laughed through another kiss, then he stood and pulled her to her feet to celebrate their win with the rest of the world.


End file.
